In final football scrimmage before G-Day, Georgia offense gets better of defense

Marc Weiszer @marcweiszer

Saturday

Apr 13, 2019 at 7:16 PMApr 14, 2019 at 1:08 AM

ATHENS — All it took to get an SEC football fix this weekend was to tune in to any of eight spring games of league schools airing on TV and streaming on smartphones.

A week before Georgia fans get their chance to see the Bulldogs in the annual G-Day game, the team held its second scrimmage Saturday in Sanford Stadium.

The offense had the upper hand in this one, according to coach Kirby Smart, who said the team is starting to develop more identity and toughness after its 12th of 15 spring practices.

After the defense stuffed the run in the first scrimmage, that changed this time.

“I thought we had a lot more 5-, 6-, 7-yard runs,” Smart said. “Not a lot of explosives, but ran the ball better. And offense controlled most parts of the scrimmage. I thought that was good. Just very efficient. Didn’t get in a lot of third-and-longs, which made it hard for the defense to win the third-and-mediums.”

Georgia’s mammoth offensive line created space for a running back corps that includes D’Andre Swift, Brian Herrien, Walter Grant and James Cook, Smart said.

“I hate talking about the offensive line," Smart said, "but somebody played good up there because I don’t know which one was mashing people out of there, but out of Trey Hill, Solly (Solomon Kindley), Cade (Mays), Andrew (Thomas), I don’t know where it was coming from but they played well.”

The scrimmage was closed to the media and no players were available to comment about it, but Smart said that wide receiver Matt Landers showed out well for the second straight scrimmage and receiver Demetris Robertson of Savannah also made plays. The quarterbacks — starter Jake Fromm, Stetson Bennett and freshman D’Wan Mathis — made good decisions, Smart said.

A deep secondary that includes newcomers DJ Daniel, Lewis Cine and Tyrique Stevenson has won more than its share of battles against a thin receiving corps, but not on Saturday.

“Probably didn’t have our best day today,” Smart said. “We gave up some plays on the back end more than we did the last week ... I think we have the potential to have a very fast secondary. I don’t know how instinctive we are yet. I don’t know how great we are at playing the ball, but we do have some speed back there.”

Sophomore safety Otis Reese remains out due to an illness, Smart said.

Meanwhile, junior safety Richard LeCounte (Liberty County High School) is working not only at free safety, but strong safety this spring. Smart said he’s been inconsistent in practice.

“He still doesn’t know his assignments in and out,” Smart said. “I think he’d be the first to tell you, we’re trying to train him at left and right safety where he’s only played free safety before. That’s for his development and growth. It puts a little more responsibility on him to know the call every time. When you’ve got to play both safeties, it’s a little more taxing on you mentally. He’s responded well to do that. He’s just got to continue to grow.”

Divaad Wilson, William Poole and Mark Webb are competing at the nickel star position.

“I am so proud of how they’ve worked,” Smart said. “But nobody has said, ‘I’m clear-cut the guy, I’m the one that’s going to know what to do every play, play it the right way, play with toughness. You’ve got to be a tackler but you’ve got to be able to cover. It takes a unique player to be able to play that position.”

G-Day coming

The G-Day game is next Saturday at 2 p.m. on the SEC Network.

That will be a chance to see most of Georgia’s 14 early enrollees (a few are injured), but Smart is anxious to get the rest of the nation’s No. 2 ranked recruiting class on campus to get a better gauge of the team’s strengths and weaknesses.

Junior college outside linebacker Jermaine Johnson, who missed the first scrimmage due to a sprained ankle, has “flashed some” at the position coming off the injury as has redshirt freshman Azeez Olujari.

Brenton Cox and Robert Beal, the outside linebackers who missed the first scrimmage after their arrests for misdemeanor possession of marijuana, took part Saturday.

Smart wasn’t pleased with the lack of “havoc” in a scrimmage where tackles for loss, forced fumbles and passes defended weren’t at the level he wanted.

“We’re not where we need to be,” Smart said. “We didn’t cause a lot of havoc today, let’s put it that way.”

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